New Development Site Up For Sale In Fast-Growing NoMa

A taco shop, auto repair shop and credit union are being marketed for sale as a new development opportunity in the booming NoMa neighborhood.

Marcus & Millichap has listed three parcels totaling 0.47 acres just south of the Uline Arena for sale, presenting it as an opportunity for a mixed-use project. 

The prospective sellers are the three different occupier-owners of the properties, Treasury Department Federal Credit Union and two private owners of the adjacent Tony’s Auto Repair and taqueria Little Miner Taco.

The credit union office building at 1101 Second St. NE, on the corner of Second and L streets, makes up the majority of the land area with 0.32 acres.

The assemblage doesn't have a listed price. Marcus & Millichap’s Sneha Shaji and Lorenzo Wooten are marketing the offering. 

The brokers are pitching the idea for a new owner to upzone the property from PDR-3 to MU-10. That would allow for the development of 167K SF of residential and about 19K SF of retail, the brokerage’s offering memorandum states, with buildings rising up to 100 feet. 

The brokerage is also in talks with owners of two other adjacent parcels to add an additional .09 acres to the assemblage. Those sites are home to eatery Chop Shop, bar Nice & Easy and Blue Boy Document Imaging. 

The property's PDR-3 zoning allows for a floor-area ratio of 3.5. The brokers said changes in zoning designations have been par for the course for many of the multifamily buildings that have risen in NoMa. The area had been largely industrial until the past decade or so, during which time it has seen rapid multifamily and retail development. 

A slew of new apartment buildings from developers like Trammell Crow, MRP Realty, Foulger-Pratt and Grosvenor have made NoMa one of the city's hottest areas in recent years. The submarket has 1.9M SF of additional development under construction or planned, according to Marcus & Millichap’s listing. 

The site is also a short walk from transit hub Union Station, as well as the popular Union Market food hall and a host of new apartments, restaurants and shops that have opened around it. 

“There's a massive amount of development, and there's a significant amount of demand for retailers and tenants in this direct area,” Wooten told Bisnow.

Next door to the property, the site of an empty office building at 1109 Congress St. NE is planned for a development by MED Developers. The local company acquired the 10K SF property in 2022 for $7.8M, according to records with the D.C. Recorder of Deeds, but construction hasn’t started. It's entitled for 62 residential units and 4K SF of retail, according to Avison Young's marketing materials. The site, long eyed for multifamily development, was formerly owned by J Street Cos.

“It's a great location to be in,” Shaji said. “This is the last site in that direct area that needs to be developed.”